Matthew 8:1-13; Exodus 39; Exodus 40; Proverbs 18

“Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.’ The centurion answered and said, ‘Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.’” (Matthew 8:5-8 NKJV)

Jesus wasn’t amazed often. This display of faith by a Roman Centurion did it though. The Centurion told Jesus his servant’s problem and Jesus planned to go and heal the servant, only to be stopped in His tracks when the Centurion told Him not to come. Zacchaeus jumped out of the tree he had climbed in his haste to respond when Jesus said they could dine together at Zachaeus’s house. Others demanded that Jesus come with them to heal someone who was sick or dying. The arrogant, pompous, imperial Roman Centurion recognized that he wasn’t worthy to have this Jewish teacher in his house and so he told Jesus that all He had to do was say the word and He would heal the servant. The centurion recognized authority. And Jesus was amazed because of the centurion’s faith. I thought of Nazareth, where Jesus didn’t do many miracles because of their lack of faith. This time He was amazed at their lack of faith. I guess there are two ways to surprise Jesus: having great faith or having no faith. If only He’d be amazed at my great faith all the time instead of the many times I lack faith in bad situations.

It isn’t that hard to have some kind of faith. We trust a lot of different things in this world to work right. We have faith that there will be food at the grocery store but recognize that such faith isn’t always rewarded around the world. We have faith that the car will start when we need to go somewhere but it doesn’t always do that. Faith in God, though, is different. Our faith in God doesn’t depend on Him performing certain actions or promising specific results. Our faith in God is found in trusting the Creator of the Universe to do the right thing. If we lived and walked in that faith, we could change the world.

Lord, remind me that You are God and that as Creator of this world, You have things well in hand. Give me the faith to trust You no matter what the circumstances may be.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.